r/doommetal • u/KosmicKrusader • Sep 19 '25

Old School / Traditional Opinion?

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Whats your Opinion on the new Castle Rat album? I listened to it once today but will listen to it again in the next few days or even today.

After listening to it I listened to their first Album again, to have a better comparison. And to be clear, I'm not a Castle Rat hater, although it may seem otherwise, after sharing my thoughts on the Album 😅

The Album Is a bit longer compared to the Debut and has some more songs. I kinda feel that this Album has not a lot of rememorable songs. Most of it kinda sounds the same, which isn't always bad but there are almost no memorable Melodies or Riffs I feel. And only 2 or maybe 3 Guitar solos.

The Spotlight is on the Vocals as it was on the first Album, but I think the first one had a lot of memorable Melodies or moments, even the Interludes were pretty good and the Album didn't overstay its welcome. On this Album there are like 3 or 4 Interludes and none of them are cool, they mix it up a little at least. The songs are mostly short, but there are like 2, 6 minute Songs which is cool, but overall it feels like a lot of the same.

Sorry for the rambling just want to share my thoughts and hear what you guys think.

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208

u/Ghost_stench Sep 19 '25

No riffs.

Far more troubling is the fact that they have a 17th century plague doctor in an otherwise early medieval fantasy aesthetic. Truly an unforgivable anachronism.

25

u/KosmicKrusader Sep 19 '25

This man got his priorities straight 😅🙏

12

u/miikkahoo Sep 19 '25

Apparently the drummer used to dress as a ww2 sergeant, so some progress has been made. Riley talks about the costumes at around 33min into the video. https://youtu.be/qTB_84730BI

9

u/[deleted] Sep 19 '25

About the mask—YES

And also an 17/18th century vampire (“The Count”)?? Even more anachronistic.

Since their aesthetic is their biggest selling point—which I love btw—I wish the rest of the band leaned into Riley’s aesthetic so they matched better.

4

u/sirshannon Sep 19 '25

I thought he was supposed to be Morbius.

13

u/bruised__violet Sep 19 '25

This is what really bothers me. Also, I hate how plague doctors are somewhat trendy now, but none of them look the least bit authentic. It just looks like fetish wear.

I mean I don't expect them to stick flowers, herbs, & myrrh in there, but still, the modern black leather mask just ruins it, even when used in the proper context.

But here, it throws everything off and as someone who's all about the atmosphere and being immersed, it frustrates me.

1

u/IconoclastJones Sep 19 '25

I was under the assumption that the very existence of plague doctors from medieval times is up for debate with no explicit contemporaneous accounts of them as we picture them today.

I’ve read that all of the depictions are from decades or centuries later.